Travel to FLL in December (cruise, rent, hotel, hotel)
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We are going on a cruise in December. Now that flights have opened up for out travel time, we are taking a look at airfare. Yesterday, through my travel rewards card, I found airfare for 195K points or $2400. Ouch. I figured out that we (family of 4 with two kids old enough to sit in their own seats) could do a one way home the day that cruise disembarks for 71K points. We could rent a full size car for $555 and pick it up Christmas Day and drop it off in FLL. Hotel runs us about $250 a night plus tax. Still cheaper than paying $2400 for airfare.
An other cheaper ways to get down to FLL? We know we can drive, but really don't want to do both ways. The way back will be an awful travel day. Anything I haven't thought of to price out? We are pretty close to a small regional airport so I tried the regional carrier, but they haven't opened up the flights for Dec/Jan yet.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Auto train? Since you sound east coast based.
I have never paid over $600 for an inner USA air ticket. Christmas day is usual an inexpensive date to fly. I would consider a lot of options for $2400. (6 RT to Europe)
Southwest is a main carrier to Fort Lauderdale. They don’t open up their flights for a while. You will probably want to check the day they open up and book the first day, but it should be well under $2400. I had a ridiculous one recently (during the super bowl) and it was still less than $600 round trip.
Look into pricing for flights from other Florida cities on the day you disembark from the cruise. It might be cheaper to rent a car one way to that city and take that flight. Flights in and out of MIA or FLL do not get reduced much on weekends due to the number of cruises from there.
Look into pricing for flights from other Florida cities on the day you disembark from the cruise. It might be cheaper to rent a car one way to that city and take that flight. Flights in and out of MIA or FLL do not get reduced much on weekends due to the number of cruises from there.
I'll give that a try and see what I come up with.
I tried changing the dates from 12/25 to 1/4 and they did go down about $150 dollars per ticket, but the rewards points are still 147K or $1789 to fly. I might use the rewards for the hotel and book another flight some other time.
I'll try to see what SW has when they open and also the regional carrier.
Do NOT fly down on the day the cruise departs! The day/night before is SO MUCH SAFER. Especially during the busy holidays!
We're not flying down the day of the cruise. We did one time about 3 years ago for our 1st cruise out of Galveston. We left at 4am and landed around 6:30 or so. The wait sucked but we had travel constraints that time. We've always flown the day before for all of our other cruises.
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